Cafes

I had the opportunity to check out Impiana KLCC Hotel’s Chinese New Year Buffet Dinner and Yee Sang last night. I’ve been in calorie restriction mode for 2 weeks now and I thought a buffet dinner would make the perfect cheat meal. I can eat all I want without worrying about gaining weight. That’s what Chinese New Year is about anyway, right? I might as well start early.

I love how they have a wide range of different types of foods. Desserts took up one whole row! There’s also a selection of seafood on ice which I tackled first. There’s scallops, mussels, prawns and also tuna and salmon sashimi to the side (with sushi and maki rolls). I love seafood so this was the ideal appetizer to whet my appetite. Yum.

There’s also a lot of cooked foods so I’ll just go over some of my favorites. I liked their roasted lamb, which came with a variety of sauces to choose from. There’s also a station where you can get cooked to order meats and seafoods.

There was a chef there making sure the Peking Duck has been sliced and wrapped with the thin pancakes (complete with spring onion and sauce) so you don’t have to do it yourself.

I’m also a huge fan of tempoyak ikan patin, which is a type of fish that’s been stewed in fermented durian. I used to eat a lot of this when I lived in Kota Damansara coz there was an outlet opposite my condo which brought in ikan patin tempoyak from Temerloh. The gravy is super appetizing, spicy, with mild sour notes. This version reminded me of that.

The fried chilli crab was awesome too. It’s a different take on chilli crab, which usually comes with a sticky gravy. This is the dry version which keeps the taste but not the mess.

The Marmite Prawns was a huge hit too. It goes very well with the nasi briyani ayam gam they had. Awesome flavor combination. That’s the best part about buffets, you can to create different flavors in your mouth. I love it.

In case you were worried about the rich flavors, they also have an ulam (raw vegetable) station to the side. I thought this was a nice touch.

I was finishing my food when someone told me they also have Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Lo! They have not only one, but two of those ice cream carts filled with various BR flavors. I really love ice cream, especially good ice cream and since this was a buffet, I thought I’ll eat a whole plate of ice cream. Not a small bowl. A stacked dinner plate. I’m just greedy like that. Apparently, this was a lot of ice cream coz my table mates all oohed and aahed and some even took my plate to pose for a photo. I didn’t even think it was a lot! I finished everything you see here AND went back for seconds. Pistachio. Two scoops to finish things off.

And I still had room after that for dessert. The chocolate fondue had a selection of fruits (including unusual ones like jackfruit) and sweets for you to dip inside the milky chocolate. I liked coating the macarons on a stick and eating several of those.

There was also an array of kueh which they’ve created for Chinese New Year.

And pralines. You shouldn’t miss these. It’s delicious! The one with the Chinese character is a hazelnut chocolate type praline which I would rate as #1. Coming in a close second is the praline flanking the right, with a beautiful white-red edible cover. It’s a chocolate praline with crunchy bits inside and a hint of orange. Very moorish! I was tempted to tapao a few back.

We were also treated to a live food preparation by Chef Bustami Osman, the senior sous chef of Impiana KLCC Hotel. He cooked Fried Boneless Chicken with Black Pepper Soy Sauce, one of the signature dishes on the special menu for the CNY buffet in Impiana KLCC Hotel.

Their signature Prosperity Yee Sang is also available from Tonka Bean Cafe & Deli starting from 28th January – 11 February. There are a few selections of yee sang such as Jelly Fish, Soft Shell Crab, Salmon, Abalone and Lobster for 5-10 pax. The yee sang is also available for take away from 12 pm – 10 pm daily.

If you’re still craving for Chinese New Year food, Yee Sang Hi-Tea is available on the 16th February 2018 from 12:30 pm – 4 pm. Priced at RM 98 nett per person (adult) and RM 48 nett per person (children), the high tea is inclusive of Jelly Fish Yee Sang and Roasted Duck.

I thought this was pretty interesting. It’s 1 whole chicken smoked with applewood chips and it tastes pretty good. It takes 20 minutes to arrive coz it’s cooked to order. I had this at the Black Market outlet below my new place. I just moved to Main Place and was searching for something to eat when I saw this. Yeah, I ate 1 whole chicken! It’s not very big though, it’s one of those free range kampung chickens. I’m trying to eat less carbs now so it’s only protein and vegetables.

I ate this monstrous amount of food and managed to finish everything. The Jumbo Platter has 4 packets of Indomie + 4 toppings + 2 eggs. It’s quite a lot of food. I didn’t think I’ll be able to finish it since I haven’t been able to put down 4 packs in a long time…much less with sides. However, after a significant amount of preparation (actually, I just skipped breakfast and lunch) I successfully ate everything on the plate + 2 milkshakes.

People have given me some great feedback about my YouTube videos and I’ve been told that I have been slightly wooden in past videos. This one has 30% more genki/pep. It’s just coz I’m feeling a lot better now – the previous Big Hug one was filmed when I was still feeling a significant amount of Suboxone withdrawal. I was not myself. I’m still not fully back to normal but it’s very close now, I’m feeling better and better each day! I apologize for the blurry focus at the beginning – I had set the focal area to a wrong part and only fixed it in the middle when I went to check.

There are also 3 cuts in the video but I’ve learned a few tricks since so it shouldn’t be too visible. I used the new morph tool in Premiere CC to make the transitions better. I had known about this before filming and arranged each cut as I was leaning in to take a sip of the milkshake and go back to the same position as I went back. It sounded like a good idea but in reality Premiere needs your full face to be in for better results. I’ll remember that for next time.

It was a bit of a challenge to finish everything too. I asked one of the friendly waiters if he could turn on the lights and turn off the stereo so I could record. Now I know why all the mukbang people say doing on-site videos is hard, you sometimes have to impose a little so I try to go during off-peak hours. It was still full on one side then so I couldn’t sit where I wanted. I did move a few tables for better lighting though, so it takes bit of coordination to do these things better.

Okay, it’s no secret that I’m trying to get more YouTube content out there. It’s something I’ve always been interested in, I want to do documentaries and maybe even a movie so I have to start learning shots, editing, things like that. I got a video tripod the other day so I can have stabilized videos – one of the comments I got was that the captures were very shaky from holding the dSLR using my hand. I also know the audio isn’t very clear and I’m shopping for those battery powered voice packs they use to wire up people before a show. That’s the next thing on my list that I’m going to purchase, hopefully before Sunday as there’s something I want to do then.

I’m also moving house so tomorrow I’ll go and shoot my new place and show the changes as I get the contractors in and what the condo is like. It’s not going to be super furnished since I’m on a bit of a deadline to move in (have been putting it off due to Suboxone withdrawals but I’m so much better now and getting 2-3 hours of sleep NATURALLY each night). I’ll write more about my new place when I start moving, I found out that it’s actually quite near a lot of interesting food places.

…and that was how I found this place. Big Hug Burger is in SS 15 and I actually went over the weekend but I thought I’ll go again when I went to get my condo keys since it was just around the corner. I brought my tripod and dSLR and made a mukbang – the staff were kind enough to turn down the music while I filmed. The burger is HUGE and at RM 24, very worth it. The bill was RM 31 coz I added RM 7 for fries and free flow drinks.

I love how they carry Coke Zero here. A lot of places, even McDonald’s and mamaks don’t carry Diet Coke or Coke Zero and that’s bad. I think the awareness of sugar is lacking in Malaysians. Don’t look at me like that, I’m not one of those SUGAR IS EVIL tree huggers, I just think you shouldn’t consume calories in drinks. Sugar is very calorifically dense e.g. it will make you fat. Why would you want to *drink* sugar when you can eat it in the form of chocolates, desserts etc. I much prefer to eat my sugar so all the soda I drink nowadays is calorie free (yes, these diet/light sodas are actually zero calorie so you don’t have to feel bad about drinking them).

Knowing that, I can’t go back to regular Coke or regular sodas. The sugar content just puts me off coz I know I can get a similar (close enough) taste without having to consume that much sugar. Again, sugar isn’t bad or evil, it just makes you fat, so why drink your calorie allowance? Wouldn’t you rather eat an ice cream instead? I have to admit that I’m not immune to the charms of a sugar packed Iced Milo with lots of sweetened condensed milk but I’m trying to get into better shape now and to have a nice body, you need to give up certain things. Sugar is one of the things I’m giving up so it’s only zero calorie sodas for me from now on! It’s good stuff, I actually prefer the taste of the milder sweetness level.

Grand Taipei is a relatively new cafe, restaurant and tea house (that’s what they call themselves) in Sunway Giza. If you thought it looked kinda familiar, you’ll be correct. There was a place called Taipei Taipei inside the mall a few years back. It didn’t do well and closed permanently. The old Taipei Taipei has been relaunched as Grand Taipei but the chopstick covers still has the old name.

This spot seems to have bad feng shui or something. There has been a lot of different bars and restaurants at this exact spot which shuttered and got replaced by a new one. The latest to try is the ex-Taipei Taipei from inside the mall. The interior looks really nice – there’s an old movie projected to the walls, vintage furniture, jukebox, and a small stage.

Taiwanese Style Pork Chop with Rice (RM 15.90)

This is their signature dish! Grand Taipei does a mean pork chop rice. There’s a large slice of savory and delicious pork chop on top of a mound of rice. The rice isn’t just plain rice but mixed with minced stewed pork (what the Taiwanese called kou rou). There’s also a triangle of vinegar tofu which balances out the dish with a bit of acid, as well as vegetables. It’s pretty good, reminds me of the food I had in Taiwan.

Brown Sugar Red Bean Milk Tea (RM 9.90)

This is Taiwanese milk tea but with red bean instead of tapioca balls. They have a tapioca ball style bubble tea version for RM 8.90 too. It’s better to order the “RM 8 Business Lunch Set” which allows you to choose a drink and provides you with a daily side dish (pickled cucumbers shown above) so you save between RM 1 – RM 2 on your drink and get a small side.

Grand Taipei will have familiar food if you’ve been to the old Taipei Taipei. They specialize in pork chop rice and they’re pretty good at it. The pork chops are fried to order and it’s served hot. I like how they have multiple sourish sides (pickles, tofu) coz the oily pork chop can be a bit hard to stomach after a few bites and the acidic dishes help cleanse your palate. Lunch for me cost RM 23.90 which isn’t bad for the amount of meat they serve.

Cafe Koel is a Korean owned and operated restaurant in Kota Damansara. It just opened a few weeks ago and I’ve eaten there twice already. My better half wanted to eat bingsu last weekend and we came here for the icy treat. She noticed that they serve Korean food too and we brought her parents with us for lunch Sunday afternoon.

The owner of Cafe Koel is a friendly South Korean lady. She’s always cheerful and bubbly and that really makes her service stand out in the F&B industry. There are no reviews or buzz yet for this place (except for the one my dear wrote) coz it’s just so new so I thought I’ll write one coz we really enjoyed the food. Her parents did too!

Kimbap (RM 7.90)

My better half ordered a stuffed rice roll coz she wanted to save space for bingsu. We had something similar a few weeks ago from the Korean grocery near Chicken House in Solaris Mont Kiara and we liked it very much. This is a similar product – the rice is rolled in seaweed and stuffed with pickles, vegetables, egg etc. I love the takuan (pickled radish which the Koreans call danmuji) and the ends are the best part of the kimbap coz it has extra long pickle sticking out!

Japchae (RM 18.90)

My dear’s mom had this. It’s stir fried sweet potato noodle mixed with vegetables and sliced chicken. I’ve seen mung beans noodles before but never sweet potato noodles. It seems quite common in Korea though. The slippery texture of the sweet potato noodle is very pleasing and I like the savoriness of the dish. I ate so much from her plate that I felt a little guilty. Haha.

Bulgogi Deopbap (RM 16.90)

Her dad and I ordered the beef bulgogi with rice. I have eaten bulgogi in Korea before (and even had bulgogi burgers in both Lotteria and McDonald’s Korea in Busan) and I like the slightly sweet nature of the dish. This is the pan cooked version instead of the grilled version which I’ve seen in mukbang videos. The sweetness of the meat is perfectly balanced by the salty freshness of the kimchi served as a side.

Melon Milk Snow Flake Bingsu (RM 49.90)

This is made from a whole honeydew melon. I saw the melons in the fridge and the flesh was scooped out to use as the topping/side. The cavity is filled with their delicious milk bingsu and served with red bean paste and more melon milk on the side. It was really good but a bit too large for 2 pax. It was a bit of a challenge to finish it coz the kind owner also gave us her new coffee bingsu to try that day.

Milk Snow Flake Patbingsu (RM 17.90)

I ordered this yesterday as part of my meal. It’s RM 24.90 together with the bulgogi rice bowl or RM 17.90 separately. We were craving for the bingsu since our trip the week before and we had planned to order more once we finished our meal. However, the owner surprised us with 4 servings! She added on 3 more on the house so we could each have our own bingsu. That’s a really nice gesture. I loved the kinako (toasted soy bean flour) that goes on top of this.

I have been craving for their bingsu ever since Sunday and wanted to drop in this afternoon but they were closed. Cafe Koel is just opposite my condo. It’s an undiscovered gem located at Dataran Sunway beside Sunway Giza Mall. We got a small gift each time from the Korean owner and her friendly touch makes us always feel welcome. There are a lot of Korean owned restaurants in the Klang Valley nowadays and this is one of the better ones. We’ll definitely be back for more!

I was craving for Vietnamese pho over the weekend. I’ve been craving for pho for a very long time and thought I’ll finally scratch my itch when my better half said she’ll rather go somewhere nearer instead. Thus, we headed into Oasis Ara Damansara for our weekend brunch and saw Mr & Ms Cafe. It was packed to the rafters!

There was another cafe called Crave Cafe beside it which in contrast was totally empty. Naturally, we went to the popular one. You can’t ignore 20 pax, especially if you haven’t been to either before. Mr and Ms is a Melbourne style breakfast place with surprisingly competent wait staff. The visitors are overwhelmingly Chinese, although I believe the place is pork free.

Yummy Duck & Eggs (RM 24)

This is ultra flavorful shredded duck with baby spinach on a baguette, topped with two poached eggs. The sauce they use is reminiscent of braised duck and it’s very good. I love the addition of raw spinach too, the earthy notes complement the dish well. The orange segment on top was gold! It actually adds a lot to the dish. The portion was slightly small but it turned out to be enough.

Fried Chicken, Portobello & Eggs (RM 22)

My better half had this. It came later than mine and she had eaten my duck first, which was a huge mistake. The chicken tasted positively bland in comparison. They use a breaded chicken breast and it’s cooked to order, which explains why it took 20 minutes to get out. To be fair, the waitress apologized for the delay, but usually restaurants will write down the wait time for longer dishes on the menu. It was decent though, just don’t eat the duck first.

I also had a latte (RM 9) while my dear went for the Hot Chocolate Nutella (RM 12). Mine was decent while hers was slightly diluted with hot milk. Mr and Mrs also serves freshly squeezed orange juice with no added sugar or water for RM 10. It was mind-numbingly sour but I was glad I had it. It’s packed full of nutrients. I presume anyway, I refuse to believe I drank something this acidic for no good reason.

Mr & Mrs Cafe is a great destination for breakfast. The bill came up to RM 81.60 for the two of us. We didn’t order any desserts coz they only had one left. The cafe distinguishes itself with two (2) selfie props on their table in lieu of the usual fresh flowers. There is a moustache on a straw and a lipstick red pair of lips on the same. I guess you’re supposed to pose with them. I did, anyway, my better half was not as willing to embarrass herself in public.

LeTAO (ルタオ) is a famous bakery, café and sweet shop with branches all over Hokkaido. We saw one in New Chitose Airport when we landed in Sapporo and again when we went shopping in Daimaru but my better half wanted to eat at their head store in Otaru. Otaru is a quaint little town where they have a huge presence – it’s where their HQ is, as well as their chocolate shop (called LeTao le chocolat) and lab (LeTAO Cheese CakeLab).

There are at least six (6) different LeTAO shops in Otaru, all selling something unique. We saw one in Otaru Station when we arrived which is called Ekimo LeTAO and they sell roll cakes in addition to their regular product lines. My dear wanted to check out their sit-down café though so we walked over 30 minutes in search for LeTAO PATHOS – their largest store and café in Hokkaido.

LeTAO actually pioneered the “Japanese Cotton Cheesecake” craze. This is a soufflé-like cheese cake with a distinctive look. However, LeTAO doesn’t call it that themselves (no one in Japan does). It’s called the Double Fromage by LeTAO and it’s one of their most famous products. LeTAO also has a presence in Thailand but if you want to eat the real thing made with Hokkaido dairy, you better get your ass down to Otaru…and that’s what we did.

The café at LeTAO PATHOS is huge and you’ll be escorted to your seat by a nice Japanese girl who’ll take your order while kneeling down (!!!). This really surprised me and made me a little uncomfortable. However, it’s part of the renowned Japanese approach to service and they even make a point of stating that their tea is not ready made – it’s only brewed each time there’s an order so it’ll take a while for drinks to arrive.

Double Plate with a drink (1,404 JPY or RM 58)

This is all of LeTAO’s favorites on a plate! It contains two of their most popular cheese cakes – Double Fromage and Chocolate Double together with a crème brulee tart called Venezia Rendezvous. I have no idea why this is called a “Double Plate” when it contains 3 items but I suspect the Japanese words mean something entirely different.

I really enjoyed LeTAO’s Double Fromage. It’s made with three (3) different cheeses – Italian mascarpone, Camembert and cream cheese. All the cheeses used here are produced in Hokkaido from a local dairy. The upper layer is a creamy and smooth no-bake cheesecake and the lower layer is rich and tasty baked cheesecake. Insanely good stuff…

The Venezia Rendezvous is a mascarpone crème brulee made using mascarpone from Lombardy, Italy. The cheese is added to LeTao’s original fresh cream in Hokkaido and flavored with natural vanilla beans from Madagascar. The light and crispy tart provides a nice texture to the 42% milk fat cream used in the filling and the natural sugar beets grown in Hokkaido. The dessert is not sweet at all, the only sugar used is from the locally grown sugar beets.

The Chocolat Double is the chocolate version of their bestselling Double Fromage. They combined the cheese cake with a chocolate cake to produce a two-layered chocolate cheesecake. The cocoa is from Europe but all other items are local and the bitterness of the cocoa makes the cheesecake more suitable for adults. It cuts down the mildly sweet Double Fromage with some bitterness to produce a slightly bitter dessert.

Strawberry Mille-feuille with a drink (1,816 JPY or around RM 72)

This beautiful dessert can only be ordered in LeTAO’s café. It’s made with LeTAO’s original custard and Hokkaido grown strawberries for a towering treat that looks almost too good to eat. My dear saw this highlighted in their menu and didn’t want to order it coz it was over RM 70 for a plate of pastry. We had just eaten sushi at the 1 Michelin Star Isezushi so this was primarily a dessert run but I insisted on ordering it coz I knew she wanted to try it.

The custard was very good – it was speckled with real vanilla beans from Madagascar and there are superbly tart red currants strewn throughout the plate. However, I thought the crispy sheets of pastry was slightly over-done and bitter. Granted, desserts in Japan are an order of magnitude less sweet than Western or local counterparts but we’ve had really good mille-feuille from 2 Michelin Star Le Relais LOUIS VIII in Paris, France so it can’t really measure up to that (especially when the mille-feuille was the star dessert that got them their two Michelin stars in the first place).

LeTAO is a great place to visit if you want to have a luxurious and warm sit-down dessert in Otaru. The café in LeTAO PATHOS also serves savory food like pasta – it’s the only one that does that so it’s something to think about if you’re heading here instead of the main store. It’s also larger than the head store or LeTAO Plus. The bill came up to 3,220 JPY (about RM 130) for the two of us, including drinks and the service was excellent. I would highly recommend eating at LeTAO if you’re ever in Otaru – after all, this was where LeTAO was born.

Pie Face! It’s a huge institution in Australia and there are many branches down under, not just in their New South Wales origins but in Victoria. I remember seeing it when we were in Melbourne 3 years ago and I even took a photo of the Pie Face shop. They’re famous for the quirky and funny faces they put on their pies to tell them apart.

This was actually a little after my time as my convocation was in 2003. I spent almost 5 years in Melbourne and in between snowboarding, raves and doofs I managed to eat quite a lot of pies. Pies are very big in Aussie, and I do miss chowing down on a nice meaty Australian style pie. Thus, when I passed by Pie Face while finding parking during the weekend, I immediately walked in.

The friendly tudung-clad girl behind the counter told me this branch just opened earlier this month. I think she said 10th of February. I was here for a Hearthstone event at 1 pm but I thought I could spare a bit of time to grab some lunch so I ordered the 2 Mini Pies + Coffee or Tea for RM 10 deal. The mini pies usually go for RM 5 and the regular sized ones for RM 7 so that’s a good deal – the drink is essentially free. I opted for a long black.

There is a wide selection of pies divided into roughly two categories – Australia Premium and Local Favorites. I got one from each, the Mini Chunky Steak Pie and the Mini Beef Rendang Pie. You can choose to have “The Ultimate Aussie Stack” as an add-on. This is a topping of mash, peas and gravy for the pies and I highly recommend it. It costs RM 3 for The Stack (regular sized) and RM 1.50 for Mini Stack (mini pies).

This is more of a Perth and Sydney thing, back in Melbourne we mostly just ate pies with ketchup on top. It is quite good though and the hot mash and peas goes very well with the chunky steak pie. It provides a more substantial meal too – all those carbs are quite satisfying to eat.

You can see the generous filling of the pies here.

I liked the mini pies, it gives you an opportunity to try out more flavors since the pies are about 1/2 the size of regular ones. You can also have them to go – I packed 6 of the mini pies back for my better half for RM 18 (a dozen mini pies are RM 34) as part of their Pie-tastic Deal. I got one of each flavor: Black Pepper Chicken Pie, Creamy Mushroom Pie, Curry Chicken Pie, Spicy Chicken Pie, Creamy Vegetable Pie, Classic Mince Beef Pie.

I think the two premium Australian pies from Pie Face are the best – Chunky Steak Pie and Classic Mince Beef Pie. The local favorites can be a little hit and miss. Some, like the Black Pepper Chicken Pie is decent but others like the Curry Chicken Pie is quite awful with too much potatoes inside. The latter tastes like a badly made karipap (local curry puff).

I also grabbed an Apple Crumble Pie (RM 6) for dessert. Pie Face has a couple of sweet offerings as well and this was palatable enough.

It was good to see Pie Face in Malaysia. I know they opened an outlet in Sunway Pyramid but I’ve never seen it or heard about it until the weekend. I went to the recently opened one in Wangsa Walk Mall and I just happened to spot it coz I was parking to go to a Blizzard event. I actually started eating pies when I went to New Zealand for high school when I was 15 so I’ve been scoffing them for a while. It’s worth a visit if you’re ever hankering for a good ol’ Aussie pie. :)

“Tanoshii means enjoy, so this ice cream cafe literally means Enjoy Dessert in Japanese,” I proudly declared to my better half. It seems that my years of watching anime during college in university had paid off at last. I could only piece together the two words, hardly enough for our trip to Hokkaido in a month’s time but sufficient for our dessert pit stop.

We had come across Tanoshii Dezato in Tropicana City Mall, which offers the intriguing creation of a taiyaki (baked sea bream – the Japanese style fish cake) filled with custard, topped with ice cream and a fruit.

The Signature Taiyaki costs RM 12.80 and you can customize it with a stuffing, ice cream flavor and fruit of your choice. There’s everything from red bean to chocolate for the filling and several ice cream flavors in addition to peach, kiwi, strawberry and banana as the fruit option.

The interesting thing at Tanoshii Dezato is that the taiyaki is freshly baked on the spot! This mean it’ll be crunchy and warm and we were looking forward to eating the unusual Japanese themed ice cream “cone”.

The woman manning the counter had two small fans to cool the taiyaki cone so the ice cream won’t melt when it’s inserted. The custard is baked inside the fish cake (see previous pic) and the fruits are all fresh!

We went for a custard filled taiyaki with matcha ice cream and fresh peach. It tasted wonderful! The taiyaki is stuffed with the custard filling so there’s something for you to eat with the “cone” and the ice cream goes into the taiyaki cone too. I like how the fruits are fresh instead of canned.

My dear also wanted another scoop of black sesame ice cream by itself. The ice cream costs RM 7 per scoop if you want it a la carte. Tanoshii Dezato also sells taiyaki by itself for RM 9.90 but the combo of the two with fruits just cost RM 12.80 so that’s the better option unless you’re too full to eat the taiyaki.

Tanoshii Dezato just started serving soft-serve ice cream. The signature taiyaki ice cream dessert with the soft-serve ice cream will be only RM 10.80. I asked why that was cheaper and the friendly lady there told us that it’s coz the soft-serve ice cream is made in-house while the other ice cream is imported from Japan so it’s RM 12.80. It’s worth a trip if you’re into new and unusual ice cream concepts.